NFTE blog

Showcasing Youth Entrepreneurship Globally

NFTE’s work was feted by the top leadership of Ernst & Young, last night. Zoe Damacela, a proud alum, and I had the honor of representing NFTE at the official welcoming reception. The royal family of Monaco hosted it to welcome everyone to the Ernst & Young Global Entrepreneur of the Year Competition.

Zoe and I joined the U.S. Delegation, led by this year's winner, Reid Hoffman, founder of LinkedIn, for a tour of the King's wine cellar and dinner. The conversation quickly turned serious with lots of interesting discussion around the table about how in the U.S. we can scale our work. With more than 20 million American youth not able to find a job, it is clear to all that we need to move quickly to equip our young people with an entrepreneurial mindset and the tools to succeed in such a rapidly changing economy.

As usual, the promise that all quickly saw in Zoe inspired promised introductions to many new mentors that include Gayle King, Diane Von Furstenberg and Tory Burch! Watch for Zoe Damacela Fashions to scale globally!

An early morning breakfast in NFTE's honor, hosted by E&Y, had a turnout of 65 interested people (many of the national winning entrepreneurs) from around the globe. Our great friend Herb Engert told our story, Zoe did a great job of telling her story and I provided the vision of where we want to go. All I can say is we have generated so much interest, that I have spent the last 6 hours meeting back to back with entrepreneurs from China, Hong Kong, Columbia, Switzerland, Spain, Mexico, Singapore, and Russia. Last time I looked, I had 5 more outstanding meeting requests, but Zoe and I are off to media interviews with the BBC,CNBC and journalists from New Zealand, Malaysia, Poland and Qatar.

Message for today is be careful of what you wish for... there is now widespread interest of this simple idea that Steve Mariotti thought of 25 years ago in a school in the South Bronx. Now we must prove that NFTE can actually produce the tools to support this incredible opportunity.